WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- A minor earthquake in the Peekskill/Cortlandt-Garrison area that occurred Saturday morning was reported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Saturday afternoon.

The 2.5 magnitude quake occurred north of Peekskill and Cortlandt, according to the USGS, at 10:46 a.m. 3.1 miles beneath the earth's surface. The quake was reported Saturday at 2:45 p.m.

Robert Pidgeon, a resident of Cortlandt Manor, said he heard a loud but short sound "that wasn't normal" shortly before 11 a.m.

"The trees made an odd sound like something was shaking them," Pidgeon said. "I actually thought it was a bunch of deer running in the woods. Now I know differently. I never thought it was an earthquake till I read about it (in a Daily Voice breaking news update)."

The exact location of the quake was 13 miles southeast of Newburgh and 23 miles northwest of White Plains, according to the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network.

Earthquakes of 2.5 magnitude or less are rarely felt, but can be recorded by a seismograph. Approximately 900,000 earthquakes of 2.5 magnitude or less occur each year.

The last earthquake felt by many Westchester residents occurred on Aug. 22, 2011 when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake (considered moderate on the magnitude scale) centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond, Va., sent tremors as far north as the Hudson Valley.

Paul Feiner is crying wolf.The northeast US has NEVER had an earthquake of the magnitude that he describes. On top of that, Indian Point was designed, engineered, and built to withstand those earthquakes.

It took one horrific event and NYS passed gun restrictions literally overnight. Maybe this minor earthquake is all that's needed to close Indian Point. If the dems/libs can't get what they want through other means, like a liberal judge, they'll take knee-jerk reaction and fear, hype, hysteria, whatever and tell us it must be done for our own good. Our already highest energy bills in the country will go up astronomically. Don't believe them when they lie and say our rates will be cheaper without IP. Yeah, obamacare was supposed to be cheaper too, remember? Yay for us, the taxpayers.

A few hours ago a minor earthquake was reported in the Peekskill area (see link below)---a short distance from the Indian Point power plant. Indian Point critics have pointed out that Indian Point is on an earthquake fault. As you will note from the following links - our area could be impacted by a major earthquake sometime in the future. I have felt for a long time that Indian Point should close down. And, I hope that the NRC will take into consideration the reality that this plant is located on active earthquake faults.

Columbia/Lamont researchers had issued a report (summarized below) that frequent small quakes occur in predictable ratios to larger ones, and so can be used to project a rough time scale for damaging events. Based on the lengths of the faults, the detected tremors, and calculations of how stresses build in the crust, the researchers say that magnitude 6 quakes, or even 7—respectively 10 and 100 times bigger than magnitude 5--are quite possible on the active faults they describe. A 2003 analysis by The New York City Area Consortium for Earthquake Loss Mitigation put the cost of quakes this size in the metro New York area at $39 billion to $197 billion. A separate 2001 analysis for northern New Jersey’s Bergen County estimates that a magnitude 7 would destroy 14,000 buildings and damage 180,000 in that area alone

Typical politicians out to start using this as a political ploy. I'm so sick and tired of it. And when and if they do close it down make sure the state has a way of covering all the lost taxes that will be heaped upon the residents of those who live in the towns and villages nearby for both School and County taxes as that has to be a consideration too. Can't have it both ways...shut it down but make those who have lived with it for all these years pay the price again by increasing their taxes.